It has been nine days since Arsenal announced that Unai Emery would replace Arsene Wenger in charge of the team and, in that time, four players have emerged as clear targets that are close to joining Arsenal.
Stephan Lichtsteiner’s deal that will bring him from Juventus on a free is said to be done with an announcement expected this side of the World Cup.
The captain of the Swiss national team will arrive on a one-year deal with the option of a further year also included in his contract.
He was believed to have been close to signing for Borussia Dortmund before Arsenal entered the equation.
Arsenal have also reportedly agreed to sign PSG’s 17-year-old attacking midfielder, Yacine Adli, on a three-year deal with an option for a further two, according to numerous reports.
L’Equipe report that the player is expected to join Arsenal while Paris United reported similar.
The teenager is signing his first professional contract and Unai Emery seems to have used his influence to get the youngster to agree to do that at Arsenal rather than Paris.
PSG had been very hopeful of getting Adli to sign with them after he was named as their outstanding youth product of the season but Arsenal have been able to make him concrete promises around playing time.
Next up, Arsenal are closing in on Sokratis Papastathopoulos with Kicker in Germany reporting that the player will undergo a medical ‘in the coming week’ as the ‘fine details’ of the transfer are worked out.
Sokratis would represent the third player with a strong Borussia Dortmund connection to be signed by the club following the arrival of Sven Mislintat.
Finally, last weekend, Caglar Soyuncu confirmed that Arsenal are interested in signing him but that he has not made a decision and won’t until after his international friendlies are finished on June 5.
Should Arsenal agree a deal for the 22-year-old, 25% of any fee paid to Freiburg would go to his former club, Altinordu, where the defender made more than 30 appearances before signing for Freiburg for £2.4m in 2016. Altinordu had signed him on a free transfer from Aliaga Futbol in 2014.
Turkey will play Iran on Monday before a game against Tunisia on June 1 and then their final game of the summer, against Russia on June 5.
Speaking recently, Soyuncu said that his future would become clear in a fortnight and his latest statement tallies with that.
In addition, reports have seen Arsenal linked with a defensive midfielder (they tried to poach Fabinho and rumours around N’Zonzi are growing), a winger and a goalkeeper, meaning that before the summer is over Arsenal could well have signed seven players for the first team.
Who will leave to make room remains to be seen.